Page 75 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

Her phone chimed from inside the truck, sharp and loud enough to cut through the easy quiet we’d settled into.

She hopped down off the tailgate and jogged around the truck.Then she looked at the screen.Everything in her changed.Her shoulders sagged first.Her mouth flattened.By the time she turned back, whatever light had been in her face was gone—snuffed out so completely it left a hollow ache in my chest.

“What is it?”I almost didn’t want to hear what new disaster would pull her away from me now that I finally got my moment with her.

She stared at the phone another second like if she looked long enough, the words might rearrange themselves into something kinder.

Then she let out a slow breath.“I’m going to have to talk to Justin while he’s here.In person.”

The name alone darkened her expression.She looked to be reading the message again.

“Why?”

She climbed back up, but slower this time, like she was carrying something heavy no one else could see.

“We bought a piece of property years ago.Nothing fancy.It was a piece of land we found with a thought to building a farm or something.In the divorce we never really settled what was happening to it.”Her mouth twisted bitterly.“I told him I didn’t want it.He refused to buy me out then.He also refused to sell.”

“He wanted something to hold you to him.”

“Probably.”She held up the phone.“Now, suddenly, he wants to buy me out.Only he’s offering me next to nothing for my half, like I should be grateful he’s taking it off my hands.”There was something raw in her voice.“He knows I’m broke.Knows I can’t fight him.He calls it an offer.”

“Usually, division of property has to be settled when the divorce is finalized.Can’t your lawyer handle it?”

Her eyes dropped.“I couldn’t afford a lawyer beyond Legal Aid,” she said quietly.“We did mediation because it was all I could manage.”

The confession sat heavy between us, thick with shame that shouldn’t have belonged to her.

“I’ll go with you to talk to him.”

Her lips twitched, trying for a smile that never fully made it.“You’ll end up in jail.”

“Probably.Can’t say I’d be sad if I wiped the floor with him.”I watched the way she was trying to hold herself together under one more thing piled onto shoulders already carrying too much.

Then softer, “I’ll still go even if I might get arrested.”

She shook her head.

“I know someone who could go with you and seem friendly but will rip him a new one when he tries to screw you over.”I smiled, liking my idea the more I thought about it.“Tell him you’ll meet him downtown at the coffeehouse for breakfast.Has Justin ever met your mother?”

She shook her head.“My mother couldn’t handle this.”

“Didn’t say it had to be youractual mother.Now mine…Lisa Hurst…” I smiled slow and waggled my eyebrows.“Let’s get you on your way to work while I have a chat with Mom.”

ChapterTwenty-Six

GIA

I wasn’tsure what to expect when I got a text last night from Timothy telling me to meet Lisa Hurst in the Baptist church parking lot ten minutes before the meeting.

When I pulled in, the only vehicle waiting was a cherry-red truck so spotless it gleamed in the morning sun like it had been waxed by angels.Not exactly what I expected Timothy Hurst’s mother to drive.I was one hundred percent sure her husband had shined up the truck for her, probably this morning.

The driver’s door swung open, andLisa Hurst descended like she owned not only the truck, but the church and possibly the entire town.She tucked a cell phone into her oversized red leather purse.

Her blonde hair was flawless.She wore fitted jeans, boots, and a modest blouse that screamedrespectable Christian woman, while everything else about her saidcross me and I’ll bury you in the back forty with a smile on my face.Long pink nails flashed in the sunlight, freshly painted and wickedly sharp.

She opened her arms.“Come here, honey.”

Before I could brace, she wrapped me in a hug that smelled like expensive perfume, fresh laundry, and pure maternal authority.